News
20 February, 2012
Production of GLP-tox material
SPAGO Imaging has signed a contract with Syntagon AB to produce material for the preclinical toxicity studies required for regulatory documentation of product safety.
31 January, 2012
SPAGO on nanomedicine tour in US
SPAGO joined the Nanomedicine Partnering Mission to Boston and Research Triangle in North Carolina, USA organized by Medicon Valley Alliance and Nano Connect Scandinavia. A Swedish-Danish delegation of researchers, business developers and representatives of authorities met with their counterparts in academia, biotechs and organizations promoting nanomedicine and life science during a week to share information and build relationships for future interactions and collaborations. Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Duke University, University Chapel Hill and Liquidia Technologies were among the places visited. Read Rapidus blogg (in Swedish) here.
17 January, 2012
Moving to Medicon Village
SPAGO will move with the Incubator to Medicon Village (previous AstraZeneca facilities in Lund). Larger lab and improved infrastructure including access to a wide range of analytical equipment will be beneficial to our work. For media coverage (in Swedish) – please use the following links: Text and Picture
8 December, 2011
Incubator company receives 3.6 MSEK
SPAGO Imaging to receive 3.6 MSEK in financing from VINNOVA’s “Forska & Väx” program.
Read the article from The City of Lund here (in Swedish).
16 November, 2011
VINNOVA financing to SPAGO Imaging
VINNOVA has recommended that SPAGO Imaging AB, a subsidiary to Accelerator Nordic AB, gets 3.6 million SEK in financing from the “Forska & Väx” program. SPAGO Imaging develops a novel, nanoparticle based, tumor selective contrast agent for MRI which has the potential to significantly improve cancer diagnostics with MRI. The money will be used for documented studies necessary for taking the project to clinical phase. Formal decision from VINNOVA to be communicated in December.
MRI is a very good imaging technique for soft tissue visualization, but a concern with MRI for tumor diagnostics today is the relatively high number of false positive results, leading to unnecessary worrying for the patient as well as high costs for follow-up examinations. The contrast agent that SPAGO Imaging is developing accumulates in tumor tissue and has significantly higher signal strength than the commercially available MRI contrast agents today. This enables better contrast between the tumor and surrounding tissue and higher specificity, thus reducing the risk for false positive results.
Today’s MRI contrast agents are almost exclusively based on gadolinium which is associated with Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis (NSF), a severe condition that can affect patients with impaired renal function. This has led to warnings from both US and European regulatory authorities. SPAGO has recently achieved good results in vivo and in vitro with gadolinium-free particles, meaning that, in addition to the good diagnostic properties, there is no risk for NSF.
The first indication for SPAGOs contrast agent is expected to be breast cancer, later expanding to other soft tissue tumors.
Through “Forska & Väx”, VINNOVA finances research and development projects in small and medium sized companies in Sweden. The goal is for the companies to increase their competitiveness by investing in research and development, thus contributing to growth in Sweden.
